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By Paul Levikow
November 20, 2025 (San Diego) – The San Diego County Board of Supervisors Tuesday voted unanimously to extend mental health and substance use services contracts.
The County Health and Human Services Agency’s Behavioral Health Services (BHS) department provides services to vulnerable populations, including individuals who are experiencing homelessness, people involved in the justice system, and children and youth with complex behavioral health conditions. The services are provided through County-operated programs and contracts with public and private agencies.
Tuesday's vote supports the continuation of work to advance behavioral health care countywide. It also advances the County vision of a just, sustainable, and resilient future for all, specifically those communities and populations that have been historically left behind, as well as the County’s commitment to the regional Live Well San Diego vision of healthy, safe, and thriving communities.
District 5 Supervisor Jim Desmond emphasized the need for BHS when he mentioned the grand opening of the Psychiatric Health Facility in Oceanside that was held Nov. 13. It’s the first County-funded inpatient psychiatric health facility in the region.
“This is a critical facility not for just North County, for all of San Diego County. We need more psychiatric beds,” Desmond said. “This is a brand-new facility that’s going to be able to treat hundreds of people in need each year to help get them on the right path, out of crisis, and into recovery. I’m very happy to see progress in our treatment and care of people who need it.”
An unidentified woman who called into the public comment portion of the meeting via telephone spoke out against the BHS item and all other items on the consent agenda.
“I do not consent to anything this board says they are fixing on this consent calendar. These items, these contracts, these programs, these so-called services are not random. Nothing in these items provides real solutions,” she said. “Nothing gets to the root of anything because permanent solutions are not lucrative. A behavioral health program that actually heals people? Nope. Not profitable.”
The BHS director was instructed to secure contracts for the following services:
- Full-Service Partnership Assertive Community Treatment Services
- Full-Service Partnership Intensive Case Management Services
- In-Home Outreach Team
- Community Input and Planning Services
- Public Messaging, Community Engagement, and Education Services
- Developmental Evaluation Clinic
- Forensic Assertive Community Treatment Program
- Clubhouse Services
BHS serves as the specialty mental health plan for Medi-Cal eligible county residents who are experiencing serious mental illness or serious emotional disturbance and is also the service delivery system for Medi-Cal eligible residents with substance use care needs.
BHS offers County-operated and BHS-contracted programs that address the social determinants of health by being accessible, capable of meeting the needs of diverse populations, and culturally responsive, with the intent to equitably distribute services to those most in need. BHS works to reduce behavioral health inequities, identifying needs and designing services in a manner most impactful and equitable, with the goal of yielding meaningful outcomes for those served.
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